Cotton-gin.



Patented Sept. 5, |899.

A. D. THOMAS.

COTTON GIN.

`Applicaticm lad June 12, 1896.)

3 Shets-Sheet (No Model.)

'me Nonms PETERS co. nomumo.. wAsNwc'oN. :1.6.

Patented Sept. 5. |899.

s.. MN nUG HN T0 .T D m .c A 5. 8 6, 2 3 6 n N {Application led June 12, 1896.)

3 sheefs-snueex 2.

(No Modal.)

No. 632,685. Patented Sept. 5, |899.

A. D. THOMAS.

GDTTOPIl GIN.

(Application filed June 12, 1896..) `(No Model.) 3 Sheds-Sheet 3 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABNER D. THOMAS, OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS.

COTTON-GIN.

SPECIFICATION'forming part of Letters Patent 1\To 632,685, dated September 5, l1899.

Application filed June 12,1896. Serial No. 595,308. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABNER D. THOMAS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Little Rock, in the county of Pulaski and State of Arkansas, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Cotton-Gins, of which the following is a specification.

My improvements in gins have for their chief objects, first, to provide improved means for removing the lint from the saws or other devices used to remove it from the seed; second, to provide improved means for separat-A ing the lint from the motes, dirt, and-other impurities mixed therewith, and, third, to economize power. I attain these objects by mechanism whose preferred forms are illustrated. in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is in part a vertical longitudinal, section of the preferred form of myimproved gin on line 1 1, Fig. 2, and in part a side elevation of the condenser connected therewith, with the sides partly broken away, so as to show a fan located beneath the condenser. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same apparatus with the gin breast and ribs removed. Fig. 3 is a detailed inverted plan view, on an enlarged scale, of a section of an air-chamber, hereinafter described,and illustrates the preferable positions of the saws with reference to openings therein. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view of a vertical section on line 4 4, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a vertical cross-section, on a reduced scale, on line 5 5, Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a detailed inverted plan view, on a reduced scale, corresponding to Fig. 3, of a modiiication in which a continuous slot is substitutedY for a series of openings. Fig. 7 is in part a vertical longitudinal section on line 7 7, Fig.` 8, and in part a side elevation of a modification in which the means for creating the cross, current is a fan locatedin the fiue leading to the condenser; and Fig. 8 is a vertical crosssection on line 8 8, Fig. 7.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The breast 1, seed-board 2, upper circle 3, ribs 4, gin-cylinder 5, its shaft (i, the shaftbearings 7 7 and 8 S, the pulleys 9 and 10, andthe gin-saws 11 are of ordinary construction and are shown arranged' in a manner which is not novel.

12 represents the supporting-frame of the gin.

13 represents a fan or blower which may be located at one side of the gin.y Its shaft 14 preferably carries a pulley 15, and the fan is preferably driven bymeans of a belt 1G, passing over pulleys 10 and 15 and transmitting motion from the gin-cylinder shaft 6 to the blower-shaft 14. y The cylinder-shaft preferably receives its motion through the pulley 9.

17 represents an air-chamber preferably arranged back of the gin-saws `11, substantially as shown in Fig. 1 g but that precise arrangement is not essential. Itis preferably connected with thefanl, from which `itreceives its supply of air, preferably through av pipe 18. The function of the chamber17 is to distribute the air received through thepipe 18, so as to supply each saw-blade with a blast adapted to blow the lint from its teeth. To that end the bottom 2O of the chamber 1S is preferablypierced at or near the front corner of the chamber bya series of holes 21, o ne for each saw, preferably vertical, and each preferably arranged with its center directly above the space occupied by each tooth of its saw as such tooth passes down through the horizontal plane in which the axis of the shaft 6 lies. As will be obvious, however, this exact arrangement is not essential in practice, and instead of a series of holes a continuous slot, such as is shown in Fig. 6, in which it is numbered 22, may be used and good though inferior results secured. The arrangement shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 is considered best, because it enables power to be economized and the force of the blasts to bedirected to the points where it is needed, instead of being to a large extent dissipated and lost.

The air-cha1nber17 may be made rectangular, as shown,`and where so formed the lower forward corner is preferably beveled at 23, so as to enable it to approach close to the saws. A flue 24 extends back to the condenser 25, which, with the exception of the means for creating a suction of air through it, (hereinafter described,) is of the usual construction. The mouth 26 of the iue 24 preferably extends across the gin at the rear of the space occupied by the saws and extends below the level of the saws.

The mote-board 27, which may betermed the lower lip7 of the mouth, preferably occupies the same position occupied by the moteboard in gins in which the lint is removed from the saws bymeans of brushes. It pref- Ioo erably slides in horizontal guides 28 2S in the usual manner, and the flue 24 preferably extends up therefrom toward the condenser, as usual in ordinary brush-gins. What may be termed the roof 29 of the mouth 2G preferably extends from the bottom of the chamber 17 back of the holes 2l, and preferably from a line close behind the holes 2l, downward and backward on a curve, to the throat 30 of the flue 24.

Below the saws and in front of the moteboard the gin is preferably open for the admission of air to the mouth of the flue 24 and so as to permit motes, dirt, and other impurities to drop down in front of and below the mote-board, as they do in ordinary saw-gins in which brushes are used.

The ends of the condenser-cylinder 25 are preferably connected by means of pipes or flues 31 31 with a suction-fan 32 of ordinary construction or other suitable means of creating a suction. I prefer to use a separate fan for the condenser instead of creating both the blast and suction by a single fan, because it is desirable to use clean air for the blast, though, as will be obvious, a single fan could be used without departing from the essence of my invention when viewed broadly.

The mode of operation of the described form of my improved gin is as follows: The gin-saws separate the lint from the seed and carry it, with the usual admixture of motes, dirt, and other impurities, back between the ribs 4 in the usual manner. The fan 1 3 generates a blast of air which passes to the chamber 17 through the pipe 1S. From the chamber 17 it passes down in the preferred form through the holes 21, which each direct a blast of air upon each tooth of the saw-blade with which it coperates and upon the lint on such tooth as the tooth and lint thereon pass beneath the hole. As the holes are preferably wider than the thickness of the teeth, the blast strikes not only the top of each tooth subjected thereto, but its sides, and as it is directed to the point where the lint should leave the teeth, and as it preferably exerts its force downward, it is able to strip the lint from the teeth more perfectly than a blast of the same strength could do it in any other way. Another advantage in using a blast or a series of blasts directed downward is that the tendency of such blasts or blast is to drive the motes, dirt, and dust directly downward, so as to cause them to escape in whole or in part in front of the mote-board in the manner usual in ordinary saw-gins where brushes are used.

If nothing were done to prevent it, the lint would escape with the motes and dirt. This is prevented by a cross-current of air preferably, but not necessarily, generated by a suction device, as shown. By a cross-current of air I mean a current which crosses the course pursued by the motes after they leave the saws; but it is not absolutely essential that the air of which this current is composed ing the lint from the saws.

should be any other than the air used in blow- The course of the air used in blowing the lint and the motes and other impurities from the saws may be changed so as to form a cross-current without materially changing the course of the motes, and, as a matter of fact, the course of the current used in blowing the lint from the saws is changed in this way in the apparatus described, though other air is added to it and forms a part of what is in that case the crosscurrent, and I Wish my claims to be read with this explanation in View. In the preferred form of my gin this cross-current is generated by the fan 32, which, being set in motion, sucks air into the flue 24 and through the condenser-cylinder 25.

The air-chamber 17 is preferably arranged close to the saws, and very little air is able to enter between it and the saws; but a large quantity enters below the saws and its course is indicated by arrows in Fig. 1.

The action of the fan 32 tends to deflect l the current of air passing downward from the chamber 17, but in the preferred form of my gin does not materially affect it until after it has blown the lint, motes, duc., from the saws. The specific gravity of the motes, dirt, and other impurities enables them to maintain their course notwithstanding the draft created by the fan 32, and they fall through the opening 33 in front of the mote-board. The lint is, however, deflected and tends to hug the roof of the mouth 2G of the flue as it is carried backward toward the throat of the flue 24, and passes,.accompanied in some cases with a certain amount of light dust, to the condenser 25. This dust and any light impurities not extracted with the motes is separated from the lint as it passes over the cylinder of the condenser and is sucked down through the condenser-cylinder by means of the fan 32.

In the modification represented in Fig. 6, 22 is a continuous slot, shown as a substitute for a series of openings above the saw-teeth.

In the modification represented in Figs. 7 and 8, the bottom of the flue 24 contains a recess 34, adapted to receive the lower half of a blowing-fan 35 of ordinary construction, whose shaft 36 is shown journaled in bearings 37 37 and having attached to it pulleys 3S and 39, through the former of which it receives motion. Above the fan the iiue preferably contains a concave recess 40. In this modification the fan 35 draws air in at the mouth of the iiue 24 and forces it through the condenser-cylinder 25 into the side passages 41 4l and thence out through the flue 42.

The prior gins of this class with which I am acquainted will not mote satisfactorily. Practical tests of my improved gin have demonstrated that it is capable of doing its work perfectly.

As will be obvious, the forms of mechanism represented in my drawings can be widely departed from without departing from the IOO IIO

substance-of my improvements in gins, and I desire to be understood as claiming equivalents broadly. It will also be obvious that the forms of apparatus described are not the only ones which can be used in carrying out my improvements in the art of ginning.

I use the words gin and ginning throughout my specification and claims in a broad sense and include within my meaning, where the former word is used, all machines adapted to remove lint from cotton-seed, and by ginning I include removing lint from cotton-seed whether the lint be long or very short.

In this specification and throughout my claims I desire to be understood as including within the meaning of the word impurities motes, as well as foreign substances7 where I speak of the impurities of lint.

I claiml. In a gin the combination with the rotating means to separate the lint from the seed, of means for directing a current of air across the rotating means to detach the lint and impurities from the rotating means and direct them downward, and means for creating a cross-current of air to cross the path taken by the lint and heavy impurities under the impulse of the iirst-mentioned current to thereby permit the heavy impurities to continue in their course downward and out of the machine and the lint to be carried bythe cross-current of air away from said impurities.

2. In a saw-gin the combination with the saws and means to rotate them of means to direct a current of air tangential to said saws and verticallydownward out of the machine, means for 'creating a cross-current ot' air to cross the path taken by the lint and heavy impurities under the impulse of the iirstmentioned current, to thereby permit the heavy impurities to continue in their course and the lint to be carried by the cross-current away from said impurities.

3. In a saw-gin the combination with a flue, the saws and means for operating them, of means for directing a current of air substantially downward and upon the teeth of the saws to detach the lint and impurities therefrom and drive them in a path across the mouth of the flue, and means for creating a cross-current of air to cross the path taken by the lint and impurities under the impulse of the iirst mentioned current of air to thereby permit the motes and heavy particles to continue on their course out of the machine and the lint to be carried away by th cross-current.

4. The combination of a series of gin-saws and means for operating them to separate lint-cotton from the seed, a casing, means for directing a current of air substantially downward and upon the saw-teeth to detach the lint and impurities therefrom, an opening in the casing below the saws and to which the current of air is directed, and means for creating a cross-current of vair to cross the path taken by the lint and impurities to thereby carry the lint with said cross-current and permit the impurities to continue on their course out of the machine.

5. In a cotton-gin, a series of saws, a casing, an opening in said casing below the saws, a mote-board adjustable in said opening, means to direct a current of air toward said opening and across the saw-teeth to detach lint and impurities from the saws and direct them downward, and means for creating a cross-current of air to cross the path of the lint and impurities to thereby separate the lint and carry it with said cross-current, and permit the impurities to continue on their course, out of the machine.

6. In a saw-gin the combination of a series of saws and means for operating them, means for directing a blast or blasts of air downward and across the saw-teeth for blowing the lint and impurities mixed therewith from the saw-teeth, a cotton-tine, the roof of which curves upward to form a flue-entrance across which the blast or blasts of air carrying the lint and impurities are directed, an opening in the lower part of said i'lue for the downward passage of the impurities, and means for creating a cross-blast of air to cross the path of the lint and impurities to separate and carry away the lint and permit the impurities to continue through said opening.

7. In a saw-gin the combination of aseries of rotating saws, means for directingacurrent or currents of air downward and across the saw-teeth for detaching thelint and impurities therefrom, a cotton-flue, the roof of which, curves upward back of the saws, and having an opening below said saws to which the said air-current is directed, an adjustable moteboard forming the lower lip of said opening, and means for creatinga cross-current ofl air to cross the path taken by the lint and heavy impurities to thereby separate and carry away the lint and permit the impurities to continue in their course to the outside of the machine.

S. In a saw-gin the combination of the ginsaws, the air-chamber arranged back of and adjacent thereto, and having air-outlet openings, leading downward, means for forcing a current of air through said openings to detach the lint and impurities from the saws and carry the same downward, the lint-Hue, having a mouth 26 across which the air-currents are directed, the mote-board below the saws, an openingin the casing in front of the mote-board and in the path of the said aira currents, and means for creatinga cross-current of air to cross the path of the lint and impurities as they are detached from the saws and carried downward to thereby separatel the lint and permit the impurities to continue through the said opening.

ABNER D. THOMAS.

IVitnesses:

J. R. FoRDYoE, BEN. D. SCHAAD.,

IOO 

